In the book Windows 8 Secrets, we provide a handy series of tables explaining the major differences between the Windows 8 product editions, which include Windows 8 (Core), Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise, and Windows RT. Here, however, we present a far more complete feature breakdown than you’ll see anywhere else.Pre-order Windows 8 Secrets today on Amazon.com and save!

As a reminder, Microsoft first provided a feature breakdown for the various Window 8 product editions back in April, in a post titled Announcing the Windows 8 Editions. As with similar Microsoft-produced tables for previous Windows versions, however, this this breakdown is woefully inadequate. So in Windows 8 Secrets, we provide a more detailed set of tables based on functional areas such as hardware capabilities, upgrade capabilities, Metro features, desktop features, and so on.

In the book, we were somewhat constrained in the book by space reasons and by the needs of the target audience. But we know that some readers are interested in the most comprehensive possible breakdown of features that are included in each product edition. And while the following is not technically complete—a full features breakdown would be mind-numbingly complex and arguably pointless—what you see here is an exclusive deeper dive than you’ll see anywhere else.

Our goal, of course, is to keep this table as accurate as possible. If you notice any mistakes or missing features, please let us know: Paul Thurrott – Rafael Rivera

With tech enthusiast web sites from around the world continuing to leak Windows 8 information, your intrepid “Windows 8 Secrets” co-authors offer a bit of color commentary about what you’re seeing elsewhere and how things will really work. In this new co-post, we look briefly at the Metro style Skype app for Windows 8, which should ship in time for the OS’s general availability in late October.Pre-order Windows 8 Secrets today on Amazon.com and save!

It’s obviously not surprising that Microsoft would be working on a Skype app for Windows 8, given that the software giant purchased Skype last year for $8.5 billion. (Skype is also being integrated into other core Microsoft products, including Office 2013, Outlook.com, and the Xbox 360, among others.)

Neowin recently leaked news of the Skype app for Windows 8. And even in this incomplete, slightly broken first version, called an App Preview, you can see where Microsoft/Skype is headed.

The initial view, or landing page, is a full-screen experience that provides columns for recent calls, favorites, and people.

There’s also a link with your Skype name and profile message in the upper right. If you tap this, a pane expands to show your status (available, by default) and a link to account information. (Tap that and you’re off to the web.)

Tap the large Call button on the landing page, and you’ll find another full-screen experience where you can call or text an arbitrary phone number, access your current payment and balance info, and view your recent calls history.

If you have more contacts that will fit on the landing page, you can view the All People screen to see everyone. As with elsewhere in this app, available contacts will have a green presence indicator and those with customized profile pictures will display that instead of a generic icon.

When you view an individual contact’s screen, you’ll see their profile picture (if any), large green buttons for video and audio calls, availability, a reminder about that contact’s location and local time, and buttons and fields for entering a text message or contacting them via SMS on their mobile phone. (You can also add a contact to your favorites list by displaying the app bar here and choosing Favorite.)

While Skype for Windows 8 will eventually offer a snap interface so you can use this app side-by-side with other apps or the desktop, that view is currently non-functional.

In an actual video call, Skype works as expected. The video is of course full screen, and you can toggle the microphone, the web camera, and pane for exchanging text chat.

Skype does utilize standard, Windows 8-style notifications, and can run in the background. So you can be alerted when a call comes in no matter what you’re doing.

In fact, Skype is one of the few apps that can work with the detailed display status option on the lock screen. (You can also use Skype in one of your seven lock screen app slots.)

That said, Skype doesn’t (yet?) integrate with some other Windows 8 features such as the Share and Search contracts.

The most curious thing about the App Preview version of the Skype app is that it’s so incomplete. Despite references to an app bar, there is no such user interface element on any of its screens except for those that display individual contacts. And a Settings interface is conspicuously absent too. Presumably both of these issues will be fixed before release.

Have you seen any other Windows 8 leaks you’d like to know more about? Drop us a line and let us know!

Assuming the shot is real, these nuggets lend more credibility to the rumor that the next-gen Xbox will be powered by a SKU of Windows 8 and that apps will be written to the tune of the Windows Runtime API -- maybe even exclusively, scrapping Win32 access altogether. Interesting stuff.

Like 11.8 million other viewers around the world, I was tuned in and watching, with bated breath, the landing of the NASA flying laboratory on wheels Curiosity. I started watching the stream via what felt like a Rube Goldberg kind of set up. It consisted of my loaner Samsung Series 7 slate, connected to a TV via HDMI out, displaying Internet Explorer 10 with UStream.tv loaded. But a few minutes in, the set up collapsed thanks to Adobe Flash. (The browser experience became unstable; memory usage ballooned until Windows was forced to terminate the process.) So I switched to Xbox.

Interestingly enough, Xbox has what's called the Xbox Live Event Player. It came out sometime in April, according to Wikipedia, but not being an Xbox affectionado this was the first time I heard of it. A quick download and I was off watching the same stream with a beer in hand. Pretty cool stuff.

But I'm a curious kind of guy. It wasn't clear where this stream was coming from or what technology was being used in the player application. And I had to know. So I logged into my wireless router -- running DD-WRT custom firmware -- and dumped out some packets via tcpdump. Poking around, I was surprised to learn the application (likely Silverlight powered) was pulling 720p video from Microsoft via IIS Smooth Streaming tech.